Good in Goodbye
by closeto30
Summary: Six years after the Stitchers program tore them apart, a chance encounter on the street gives Kirsten and Cameron the opportunity to come back together to tell each other everything they thought they'd lost the chance to say.


Stepping onto the stoop of her apartment building, Kirsten Clark pushed back the faux fur-trimmed hood of her coat and blinked up at the twilight sky before glancing down at the cock-eared Jack Russell that sat patiently beside her feet.

"I think the rain's stopped, Griff," Kirsten said perkily, looping her dog's leash around her wrist. "Perfect timing for a walk, huh?"

Griff tilted his head at her words, and then yipped enthusiastically before trotting down the stairs, nose already sniffing the air that was fresh and crisp thanks to the recent afternoon shower. Kirsten grinned to herself and quickly followed after him, taking care to step around the puddle at the base of the steps. Griff was the best little companion a girl could ask for. In desperate need of a friend after her life had descended into turmoil and she'd found herself all alone, Kirsten had rescued her small but tough dog from the local shelter over five years before. Griff was scrappy, his little body scarred and his tail crooked from a break that hadn't been given the opportunity to heal properly, but at the time that Kirsten had found him, the fact that the Jack Russell was as down and out as she was had only made him appeal to her even more. Walking with Griff in the evenings was one of her favourite things to do. The walks gave Kirsten the time she needed to clear her mind after days where she found herself thinking far too hard. She tried to change up the route they took each day; their neighbourhood was bustling and there were always new things for her to observe, and new smells for Griff to investigate. Still, their walks were such a regular occurrence that over the years, the tall blonde girl and her happy little dog had become recognisable to the neighbours, and as they walked, Kirsten found herself smiling and offering small waves of greeting to people who returned the same in kind. Pausing so that Griff could mark his favourite tree and ensure that all was in order in his little part of the world, Kirsten was moving to retrieve her phone from her pocket to check the time when she heard a sound that made her heart suddenly skip a beat. The laugh that filtered down the street was as familiar to her as breathing, even though she hadn't heard it in years. Kirsten wondered for a moment if maybe she was imagining things; after all, everyone in the world laughed, so surely it was possible that someone sounded just like him.

"Griff, I need you to look down the street and tell me exactly what you see," Kirsten murmured, staring down at her dog, who blinked up at her in reply.

"Come on," Kirsten whined at Griff. "Just bark once to confirm if it's him."

Griff yawned in reply, wagging his little bent tail as his attention was taken by a passing car. Kirsten made a frustrated rumbling sound low in her throat as she pursed her lips together.

"Some help you are," she muttered. Straightening her back as she huffed out a breath, Kirsten tugged on her dog's leash and steeled herself as she finally rounded the corner. Outside of a small Italian restaurant that was popular with the locals thanks to hearty servings of pasta and a chocolate hazelnut cheesecake with stellar reviews, stood a small group of people that Kirsten estimated to be roughly about her own age. There was an even number of men and women in the group; they were clearly ending their evening after an early dinner, chatting their way towards a slow farewell before they went their separate ways. Two young children were with the group, a young boy that aimlessly swung off the hand of his father as he waited for the conversation to be over, and a pig-tailed little girl who sat on the shoulders of a man with unusually high hair and thick-rimmed glasses. Kirsten felt a small pang in her gut as the man in question let out that familiar laugh yet again. She'd known it was him before she'd set eyes on him, but it still didn't make seeing him any easier. It had been nearly six years since Kirsten had seen Cameron Goodkin, even longer since they had actually talked, and it was something that weighed on her mind every day. Time had been good to him, she could see. The little girl on his shoulders was clearly his daughter; Kirsten could see traces of Cameron in her features, and she was displaying no hesitation in fisting her hands into Cameron's hair as an anchor point for her position. Cameron's smile was genuine, and he was more relaxed than Kirsten could ever remember seeing him. Kirsten bit her lip as she and Griff neared the chatting group. They were so caught up in their own conversation that they were oblivious to her presence. She could easily just keep her head down and keep walking without saying a word, and Cameron would be none the wiser to the fact that they had been within mere feet of each other for the first time in years. Kirsten told herself that it was best to keep it that way, and she'd actually cleared the group and was a few more steps down the street before she found herself stopping and turning to face back to the way she had come.

"Cameron?" His name escaped her lips before Kirsten even really knew what she was doing, and just like that it was too late to take it back. Cameron had been halfway through a sentence, but her voice caused him to stop short. The eyes of several members of Cameron's party were suddenly on her, and Kirsten felt her heartbeat start to quicken as panic rose in her gut. Just when Kirsten was beginning to feel as if she'd made a terrible mistake, Cameron turned to face her, his eyes wide.

"Kirsten?" he exclaimed incredulously, and then his face split into a joyful smile that made Kirsten nearly pass out from relief.

"Kirsten!" He said her name again with a thrilled tone as he lifted his daughter off of his shoulders and handed her to the flame-haired woman standing next to him. The redhead was the only one in the group that was staring at her with some hint of caution rather than curiosity, and it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that she was Cameron's partner. Kirsten gripped Griff's leash as Cameron stepped towards her, offering her old friend a hesitant smile.

"I can't believe it's you," Cameron breathed, his cheeks dimpling as he smiled back at her. "Kirsten, my God. It's… it's so good to see you. How are you?"

"I'm fine," was all Kirsten could offer back, faltering under Cameron's hazel-eyed gaze. "You, uh, you look well."

Cameron stuck his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he threw a quick glace over his shoulder at his group of friends, who were pretending to not watch the conversation a few feet away. He nodded as his mouth twitched in a half-grin.

"Yeah, things are good," he murmured bashfully, even though his eyes never left her face. Kirsten could feel her own cheeks burning. As if sensing her uneasiness, Griff let out a small yip and spun a small circle near her feet, drawing Cameron's attention away from at least a moment.

"Hey, big guy," he crooned, making a clicking noise towards the dog. Placated, Griff planted himself on the pavement and cocked his head towards Kirsten, who couldn't help but grin at his antics.

"Never really thought of you as a dog person," Cameron offered up, and Kirsten shrugged shyly.

"He's good company," she said lightly. Kirsten wanted to say so much, years of confessions that she'd kept pent up inside, but now that Cameron was in front of her, words escaped her. They stood there on the pavement, the soft silence between them while the rest of the world continued to rush by as if nothing had changed, and then…

"Cam?"

Both Kirsten and Cameron blinked as if startled by the called name, and looked towards where Cameron's friends still stood waiting for him. Cameron's daughter had fallen asleep on her mother's shoulder, and Kirsten saw Cameron's face soften into fondness.

"I should go," Cameron murmured, and Kirsten nodded as she swallowed against the lump that had formed in her throat. Cameron turned as if to take a step away, but then quickly rotated back towards her.

"I'd like to see you again, Kirsten," he said earnestly. "I really mean it. Can you… if you want to, I mean, you can send me a friend request. I'll answer, I swear."

Kirsten hoped that her facial expression masked both her scepticism and hesitance, but she knew she hadn't quite succeeded when Cameron bit his lip and raised an eyebrow slightly.

"It was good to see you, Stretch," he murmured, and before Kirsten had the chance to respond, Cameron wandered back to his family and friends, placing a hand lightly on his partner's back as the whole group started to walk down the street. Kirsten couldn't believe that one old nickname could suddenly make it feel like the breath had been sucked out of her lungs. She stood anchored to the spot, watching Cameron and his friends disappear from sight, and only snapped back to attention when Griff let out a small whine beside her. Shaking her head softly in an attempt to bring herself back to the present, Kirsten clicked her tongue at her dog as she resumed their walk, knowing that this particular walk would forever go down as the first where her head spun more at the end than it had at the start.


End file.
